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'Prayer walkers' on snowy trans-Canada trek

Neyaashiinigmiing members Julie Robichaud, left, and Carlene Keeshig walk in the Springmount area in this file photo on a cross-Canada walk a few days after it began at Cape Croker Dec. 21. They’re among a handful of walkers who are raising awareness that the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is not satisfactory to some families whose loved ones are gone and to air concerns that that there are systemic bias impeding investigations into disappearances of Indigenous women, walk organizer Branden Emmerson said. (Supplied photo)

Walkers left Neyaashiinigmiing Thursday on a journey across Canada, making a stop in Owen Sound Friday where they were to spend the night.

Organizer Branden Emmerson said five walkers were taking turns walking in pairs, while carrying a prayer staff on a trip they’re calling Da-Namaamin Moseyang Giw-Ganchigaazjig Kwewag, “We will walk in prayer for those murdered women.”

The prayer walk is needed to give voice to those families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls who are unhappy with the federal inquiry looking into this, Emmerson said by cellphone south of Clavering, having just walked seven kilometres.

“There are some who feel the inquiry hasn’t accomplished what they were hoping that it would accomplish. There are some family members which feel absolutely slighted by this inquiry, to the point where they feel that they’re not being heard,” Emmerson said.

He also believes police associations have a large say in which missing and murdered women’s cases are presented to the inquiry and try to persuade the inquiry not to use as examples cases which make them “look bad.”

“So our walk not only gives a voice to families which feel disenfranchised by this process, but it also provides a platform for them to share their story and to have their voice heard.” They can join the walk or appear in podcasts produced on the walk, he said.

The journey will be documented on the Facebook page, Da-namaamin moseyang giw-ganchigaazjig kwewag, with route details, photos and podcasts available there. Route details were to be posted by Saturday, Emmerson said.

There are ways people can participate, financially, through moral support and by walking, he said. Details are on the Facebook page.

The walking is challenging in winter. But it’s important to do it, including for its cultural and spiritual value, he said.

“When we have a direct connection with the land through walking, then through carrying our prayer staff we are in essence . . . showing reverence to the plant life, the animal life, the land, and then also the spirits of these women.”

He believes this gives a chance for these spirits to “cross over into the next realm.”

Emmerson believes the missing women for the most part are dead, though some are also “lost to addiction” and are likely in the cities, he said.

They’re choosing to walk through highly urbanized areas, particularly in Western Canada, where large concentrations of women have gone missing, he said.

“The vast majority now are usually in the more western provinces, and . . . in man camps,” which are established where pipelines and other infrastructure are being built. “Where ever these man camps pop up, there is always a rise in prostitution, drug-use as well as missing and murdered women,” Emmerson said.

He said there have been missing local women but that was more common 10 to 20 years ago. “More recently it’s been males who have disappeared, which is something that is important to us as well.”

Emmerson believes more is done to find women who are white who go missing and so this walk is also about raising awareness to change that.

“It’s a well known psychological phenomenon known as missing white woman syndrome,” he said. “There is usually a larger media attention focussed on women of Caucasian descent whereas opposed to Indigenous women most often times they’re delegated to stereotypes ‘Oh, she’s probably out drinking. Or so on and so forth,’” he said.

Responding in the first 48 hours is critical in the case of missing people, but “due to the systematic racism in the system, these issues are pushed aside and often times these family members have to get outside help just to even get police to mount a search or an investigation.”

Emmerson said he’s from Neyaashiinigmiing and for the past few years he’s been involved with Indigenous rights issues, including at Standing Rock, the North Dakota reserve and site of a standoff over concerns about a pipeline.

He also worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission movement as a speaker at The Roxy in Owen Sound, at Seneca Theatre in Niagara Falls, at Blue Mountains and in high schools, he said.

Emmerson spoke with even-tempered cynicism about all police and said he doesn’t feel anything less is called for.

“As a First Nations person, I have experienced it directly. So now, I do not hesitate in that whatsoever. Until we see more positive interactions with First Nations people as a whole, it’s pretty much the stance of First Nations people that the police are not our friends.”

He said the walkers know their walk isn’t going to solve the issue. “But we sincerely feel that with more people working towards this end that we will be able to come to a resolution eventually.”¬